A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods and associated apparatus for growing agricultural crops vertically and/or in a continuous fashion throughout each year and is directed towards the conveyance of crops on towered framework, in individual planters, while protected and nurtured in a greenhouse or in individual enclosures. The invention also relates to the production of plants in a continuous conveyance loop which can be fashioned in such a way as to transport each plant in the closest possible proximity to one another and thus approximate the same planar distribution of plants normally associated with the unit ground space while gaining a multiplicative advantage in productivity as a result of multiple tiers of plants circulating from the ground up and back down vertical towers. Plants can be produced at regular intervals such as each minute, hour, day, week, or month depending on the particular species' growth versus time, the number of total plants in the tower, the height of the tower, and the rate at which the conveyance loop is indexed. The invention is well suited for the cost effective production of both food and biomass and has the advantage of a manifold reduction in required space, water, nutrients, and time for production. The present invention also accomplishes its claims with optimum economy for constructions costs. Since the invention is constructed indoors in a greenhouse setting or in individual enclosures and is supplied with its own soils, it is not dependent on location, soil conditions, water availability, weather, season, or length of day.
B. Description of Prior Art
There is a need at present for the large scale production of food and biomass both to supply emerging food and energy markets and to offset impacts to food supplies and land usage created by the increasing usage of traditional food sources as fuel and the increasing global populations placing pressures on food, water, fuel stocks, land and other resources. Prior inventions had addressed portions of the needs for automated or high-density production of crops for food and biomass, but had not addressed the optimal characteristics claimed here.
Previous inventions failed to address a vertical arrangement for growing plants and crops in a continuous fashion during the whole growing cycle, allowing seedling, immature, and mature plants to occupy portions of the growing apparatus at the same time and to arrange them in such a way as to optimize space resource utilization. U.S. Pat. No. 4,216,617 (4,216,617) failed to articulate a truly continuous loop in that an operator would periodically have to replace top and bottom portions of the described vertical apparatus and also failed thereby to produce a continuous automatable system. Also, U.S. Pat. No. 4,216,617 failed to address where the vegetation of most crops would propagate within the described arrangement; no space was afforded in the design for vegetation to achieve an appreciable height. In order to substantially increase the production of food and biomass, there is a need to fully automate farm production, as well as to produce crops on optimized vertical structures. In addition to increasing the speed of production, increasing the speed of harvest, and reducing labor and materials costs, full automation will allow the growth of plants in conditions which are optimal for plants but could be detrimental to human farmers, such as elevated carbon dioxide, lighting, temperature, nutrient chemicals, humidity, and depleted oxygen. Human farmers could not survive these conditions and so there is a need to configure automatic or robotic farming facilities which can take advantage of the highest crop density afforded by a vertical arrangement.
Previous inventions which have sought to automate the production of crops focused on certain vegetables and didn't address the growing characteristics of perennial grasses and canes such as corn, sorghum, switch-grass, and sugar cane which are key agronomic crops as well as failed to address other perennials, and other crops. U.S. Pat. No. 6,508,033 (6,508,033) generalized a three axis and multi-zone robotic arrangement for cultivation but failed to address an optimum arrangement for perennial grasses and other perennial crops in that it failed to address the geometric advantage posed by perennial crops and failed to depict the preferred arrangement for automatically harvesting and replanting these crops, as well as other similar crops. U.S. Pat. No. 6,508,033 failed to address an arrangement that would allow for adaptability to the application of soil, soilless, hydroponic, or aeroponic growing schemes. U.S. Pat. No. 6,508,033 failed to achieve the closest arrangement for plants during all phases of growth. U.S. Pat. No. 6,508,033 sequenced seedlings on a planar conveyance with a fixed ceiling height suitable for mature plants such that the over head space above the seedlings (the difference in height between mature plants and seedlings) was not utilized. U.S. Pat. No. 6,508,033 was also more adapted for the production of annuals in that each time a plant was harvested, it was completely replanted. Perennial grasses and other perennials can be clipped at the end of a full growth cycle, leaving the roots intact and will re-grow new shoots which can be harvested at the end of the next growing cycle. There is a need for a system that allows re-harvesting of perennials, and other similar crops. U.S. Pat. No. 6,508,033 arranged the plants in groups of many plants at the same stage of growth which would have the effect of increasing in-process inventory and therefore tie-up working capital. Whereas U.S. Pat. No. 6,508,033 described a multi-story vertical platform arrangement, it in effect was describing an expensive construction methodology which for many crops would prove not to be cost effective and would force an extensive use of artificial light to reach interior spaces between levels. Rather than a multi-story, frame-floor-and-ceiling approach, a towered framework approach is indicated which mimics other, proven natural forms for the photosynthetic absorption of light such as the geometry of a pine forest or a tropical rainforest canopy. A design is needed for a towered framework to elevate and convey crops in a geometry which allows enough free space and porosity for natural and artificial light to filter through and scatter from floor to ceiling and wall-to-wall. Equally, a design is needed that is based on the absolute minimization of construction materials, such as a towered conveyance upon light-gauge framework rather than material intensive traditional structural design. Safety factors and practices for human occupancy are unnecessary for the sole occupancy of plants. Both the structure and the conveyance of U.S. Pat. No. 6,508,033 were material intensive, making the design not cost effective.